Constituency : Wigtown Burghs 1880, Edinburgh 1881
John took Wigtown from the Tories.
John was the son of Duncan McLaren the MP for Edinburgh. He was small and frail so educated privately before going to Edinburgh University and becoming a Scottish barrister. He was active in organising the Liberals in Scotland and masterminded Gladstone's Midlothian Campaign.
John wrote a number of legal books.
Gladstone immediately appointed John Lord Advocate but he lost the ensuing by-election. He also lost a by-election at Berwick-upon-Tweed later that year.
John's father then resigned his Edinburgh seat to make way for him. Late in 1881 he became a judge as Lord McLaren prompted by Gladstone and Harcourt,
John was also interested in maths and astronomy. He was a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society .
He died of flu in 1910 aged 79.
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